LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - SAVE Act is needed

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

I am responding to the editorial/opinion published in the April 16 edition of The Record-Review.

Voting is a fundamental right and obligation of citizenship. American students were once universally taught that in their civics classes. They were also taught about the great effort that was required to get and keep those rights.

American history is littered with attempts to ensure that only the “right people” are the ones making the decisions. After losing the Civil War, Democrat politicians in the South implemented property ownership requirements, literacy tests, and poll taxes to deny the right to vote to black populations who would have supported Republican policies. Jim Crow laws continued to influence voting until a Republican-dominated Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This legislation removed roadblocks to voting for black populations, but it did not eliminate election fraud.

A stable democracy requires an election system that is trusted by the governed population. Voting must be easy and secure. The current system consistently triggers charges of fraud from the losers (Republicans and Democrats), because people recognize that the voting process is not secure. It is impossible to resolve these fraud charges, because the current election system is designed to be impossible to audit. Recounts are not sufficient, because the illegitimate votes are indistinguishable from legitimate votes at that point.

There is a great deal of concern about noncitizens voting following the disgraceful effort by the Biden administration to flood the country with illegal aliens. This is a legitimate and serious concern, but there are many other suspected illegal voting scams. I will highlight a mail-in voting scam today.

There is a concern about people who use the active registrations of inactive voters to vote by absentee ballot. How could this be done? The state publishes a list of people who have voted in a given election. It would be simple to compare this list with the bloated list of Wisconsin registered voters to identify voters registered as “active” who haven’t voted in several elections.

In fact, this is how the Wisconsin Election Commission identifies these people. Anyone can then go to the website “MyVote.wi.gov” to request an absentee ballot of one of these people by entering the name and birth date of that person. They can have the ballot sent to any address. This ballot could then be forged and deposited anonymously in any ballot drop box. No one verifies the signatures of the voters or signatures of the witnesses on the absentee ballot envelopes in Wisconsin.

Once these ballots are separated from the envelope during the counting process, there is no way to distinguish that illegitimate ballot from your ballot. The names of these “ghost” voters could be recorded by the cheaters for use in future elections. These names will remain on the voter poll list, because they appear to the Wisconsin Election Commission to be active voters. This scam must be stopped.

Election security is necessary for the survival of our government. Security requires some effort by the voters. We should endeavor to use voting procedures that provide solid security with only a reasonable amount of effort. No effort, and no security, is not a reasonable option. The SAFE Act is a step in the right direction.

Please call on U.S Senator Tammy Baldwin to support the SAVE Act.

Bruce Bohr Marathon

Funding for institutions of higher learning, including the University of Wisconsin’s campuses in Wausau and Marshfield, is being used to coerce them into following philosophical mandates issued by the Trump Administration. Attempting to coerce universities to change admission and administrative policy is an assault on academic freedom and on the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The First Amendment is written for the express purpose of allowing people to speak in opposition to government policy without recrimination. The Trump Administration has been abducting and deporting foreign students accused of speaking against US foreign and domestic policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio demonstrated his failure to understand the purpose of having the amendment when he said, “If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa.” Law firms are threatened if they agree to defend the student’s right to study here and speak their opinion. News media are threatened for reporting news that is not favorable to the administration. Attempts to defund National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service are efforts to eliminate balanced news delivery. A more subtle attack on academic freedom is defunding the Institute of Museum and Library Services, removing $2.23 million from Wisconsin libraries, impacting rural libraries the hardest.

The Trump Administration has also violated the Fifth Amendment and the 14th Amendment in its efforts to stifle opposition to its policies through the denial of due process and equal protection.

President Trump’s disregard for the Constitution, his willful disregard for rulings by the Supreme Court, his attacks on educational institutions and his constant self-aggrandizing are characteristics of a dictatorial tyrant. They are beginning to affect what information we have access to and how we talk about it. Democracy is fragile. We must understand when the rights of one person are violated; the rights of everyone are in danger.

Bryce Luchterhand Unity

What is a tariff? It is a tax placed on items imported from another country. Does the other country pay the tax? No, the American importer pays the tax and then passes the increased cost of the product on to the consumer. Who benefits? If tariffs become the major way of collecting taxes it is the wealthiest members of society. People with lower incomes spend most of their salaries or

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hourly wages on their daily needs. When prices rise, because of the across the board tariffs, they will pay taxes on most everything they buy. Wealthier people make money they don’t need for their subsistence, that surplus would then go untaxed.

I traveled to Cambodia and saw some of the working conditions there. People work six or seven days a week, from daybreak to sunset for incredibly low wages. If you want to know where products in Dollar Generals come from, it is countries like Cambodia. Can you see American workers making products under similar conditions? If the Cambodian production is moved to the U.S., prices would have to rise dramatically. The administration used an across the board calculation to determine the tariffs for each country. Cambodia makes items for our Dollar General stores, but cannot afford to buy much from our production. So, with this particular country we have a trade imbalance. Making Cambodian products more expensive in the US will hurt the already poor Cambodians as well as low income shoppers in our plutocratic oligarchic economy.

I have argued for a long time that we could use selective tariffs on vital national security products such as micro chips. There is a role for selective tariffs in the modern economic world. The fact is, however, we live in an interconnected world. Some countries are more suited than others to produce certain products, whether that be because of resources, labor availability, transportation accessibility, etc. We do not need a surplus with every trading partner. What we need is an efficient trading relationship where we can maximize the value we get.

Joseph Stalin locked the Soviet economy into an outmoded coal and steel economy, while the rest of the world was moving on to electronics, and miniaturization. He isolated the Soviet Union from the rest of the world economies and so did not have to compete with them. Soviet products became outmoded and not valued by people in other countries. The Soviet Union fell because their economy could not compete in the modern world. The “Soviet Union” alone, did not work well. The Soviet Union was ruled by authoritarian ideologues who were certain they knew the blueprint of the developing modern society. Like any small group that feels they know the direction history is going, they were wrong. The Soviet Union fell as a result.

The United State is in a similar situation. Our current ideologue leadership has taught their followers to distrust people with differing ideas and perspectives. Interpreting world trends is task of the many, not the few. Winnowing through a myriad of interpretations of what is going on is the path to truth in a complex world. The debate should be open and intense, but free and open. In our country, the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court created a plutocratic oligarchic country. That is basically rule by a small number of the wealthiest members of our society. In ruling that money is speech and corporations are people, the Supreme Court created an undemocratic society.

The blanket tariff policy serves the interest of a small group of the wealthiest Americans. American mass media is owned and directed toward justifying their right to outrageous wealth at the expense of the rest of the country. The way they accomplish this is by setting one group of Americans against another. Divide and conquer is still a valid tactic. If we blame the poorest among us, those who look or act different, or the newest immigrants to our country, we will not recognize the rapacious oligarchs who are the heart of our problems. The route back, is to overturn Citizens United, get big money out of politics, and open our political dialogue to liberals, conservatives, MAGA members, socialists, and others, and have them listen to real alternatives for a more equitable and democratic society.

Rick Lohr Marathon

Farm Bureau not in favor of manure rule

Editor’s note: The following letter from the Marathon County Farm Bureau was submitted to Marathon County Conservation, Planning and Zoning in February in response to a proposed ban on winter manure spreading.

To whom it may concern, We appreciated the recent presentation at the Marathon County Farm Bureau meeting and all your efforts regarding the proposed manure ordinance. We look forward to being actively engaged in the process and working together to achieve favorable results.

The Marathon County Farm Bureau recognizes the importance of protecting and improving water quality. We have passed resolutions supporting requirements for farmers to meet conservation standards without cost sharing, while exempting significant capital expenditures such as manure pits. Additionally, we support compliance with nutrient management plans (NMPs), which include winter spreading plans for low-risk fields.

At this time, however, we cannot support a countywide ordinance banning winter spreading and requiring manure storage. We believe the county has significantly underestimated the costs of manure storage construction and provided inaccurate information regarding available cost-sharing funds, making this impractical for many farmers. The plan also does not adequately involve all relevant stakeholders in phosphorus reduction efforts.

Suggestions for Further Discussion: 1. Require NMP Compliance - Of the 150 dairy farms without manure storage, only 22 currently have nutrient management plans. All farms that haul manure should be included in this requirement.

Benefits:

■ A reasonable requirement with costsharing funds available.

■ NMPs include a winter spreading plan for low-risk fields.

■ Monitoring and compliance are essential. An ordinance should enforce NMP provisions, with fines for noncompliance.

■ Faster implementation than the current proposal—this approach will not take 3–5 years.

Before creating new rules, we must first enforce those already in place.

2. Provide All Landowners with Education on Best Management Practices (BMPs) The plan should involve all stakeholders that contribute to the phosphorus load, including all farms that haul manure, crop farmers, ginseng farmers, property owners in all watersheds, town and county officials and park management.

BMP action items can include:

■ Buffer strips - Erosion control measures

■ Conservation tillage - Practices that enhance fish habitats and ecosystem health 3. Continually Monitor Phosphorus and BOD Levels - A comprehensive analysis of all watersheds (not just the Big Eau Plaine) from the 1970s to today, that would help identify trends and assess whether past mitigation efforts have been effective throughout the entire county.

4. Expand the Working Group to Ensure Success - Instead of relying solely on eight county conservationists, a working committee should include:

■ UW Extension experts

■ CAFO owners

■ Livestock sitting farm owners

■ Smaller farm and daily-haul operations owners 5. Investigate Algae Mitigation Technology Solutions for the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir - Emerging technologies, such as AEC’s algae extraction for biofuels or LG Sonic’s ultrasonic algae remediation, should be considered. The true costs associated with the current proposal should be weighed against potential investments in advanced technology to eliminate algae. Marathon county could be the state leader on this front, being the first in Wisconsin to use these modern technologies.

After attending all feedback sessions and completing personal interviews with local farmers of each sized mentioned above, we respectfully ask that you table this proposed ordinance. As it stands, we do not believe it will resolve the issue at hand and, instead, will place an undue burden on the farming community.

We are eager to work with you to develop practical, effective solutions that improve water quality while considering the realities of agriculture and all stakeholders.

Marathon County Farm Bureau